A MODERN SAGA OF THE SEAS
At times she would
even attempt to wag
her tail to show her
gratitude.
We had a rough pas
sage from Vigo to Lis
bon, taking ten days to
cover a distance of 260
miles. For ten days
the dog did not eat a
thing, but when we ar
rived at last her appe
tite returned and she
made up for her long
fasting. She ate every
thing she could get
hold of, including vas
eline, coffee beans,
brown pepper, tobacco,
and a bank note equiv
alent to 20 pounds of
fish. However, she de
served it all and more.
We could not have
had a better guardian
for our boat. For
seven weeks we were
moored alongside the
quay at Lisbon. My
wife and I went ashore
every day, leaving the
boat in her charge.
She never allowed
anybody to come on
board during our ab
sence, and it is cer-
ONEOFT
tainly due to her that
The author's son
nothing w a s missing put to sea on his fir
when we went to sea on a combination of
again.
Until we arrived at Lisbon my naviga
tion facilities had improved but slightly.
Here, however, I managed to buy a second
hand sextant. It was not too good, to be
sure, but then I was not much of a navi
gator either, and in any case, on a small
boat, the conditions would rarely be in
favor of taking accurate sights. Besides,
it gave me a feeling of importance, of su
periority; I had become a proper captain, a
navigator, supposed to be capable of solv
ing the great secret of navigation. I fear,
however, that my superiority was very
much akin to that of a native sorcerer and
not much better founded.
Photograph by Erling Tambs
HE WORLD'S YOUNGEST YACHTSMEN
was born at Las Palmas, in the Canary Islands, and
st voyage at the age of six weeks. He has thrived
salt air, sunshine, and powdered milk.
The weather was cloudy all the way to
Madeira, our next place of call; my dead
reckoning took us there right enough.
With the island in vision, the sun at last
showed his face.
Here was my chance. I tried out my
sextant and found that the island was one
hundred miles too far north. The next
time I used the instrument was when, leav
ing the Canary Islands, I discovered these
islands to be one hundred miles too far
south. Thus, striking an average, we might
consider our instrument about right !
Leaving Madeira after a ten days' stay,
we narrowly escaped a terrible hurricane,
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